Vanessa Hudgens Admits She's a Hopeless Romantic

Hudgens, 18, deflected questions about her on- and off-screen romance with High School Musical costar Efron, 19, on The Tyra Banks Show Monday by admitting she “loves” the older screen star (Damon is 36).

“I was 14 years old and I met him,” Hudgens said of the Bourne leading man. “I completely freaked out. Like, I did to him what my fans do to me. I was like, ‘Ohmigosh, I love you so much, can I have your autograph?’ ”

Completely avoided during the TV interview, which was taped last month before the scandal broke, was any mention of Hudgens’s risqué-photos that were circulated on the Internet and for which the young star apologized to her fans. (It is also believed she canceled a scheduled appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno last Thursday on account of the scandal.)

Yet Banks was able to get the notoriously tight-lipped singer and self-proclaimed “hopeless romantic” to open up a bit about her personal life, asking Hudgens: “So when you [and Efron] are singing the songs ‘I Love You’ and stuff, you guys were falling in love on set?”

“I guess!” Hudgens replied with a giggle. “It’s fun to work with him. He’s really sweet, and singing all of songs is always a blast.”

She was also quick to add, “I’m very low-key. I keep my personal life to my self.”

What she wouldn’t clearly respond to was Banks’s direct question of, “Is Zac Efron a good kisser off-screen?”

Replied Hudgens, “Mmmmmmm” – which prompted Banks to egg her on by saying, “Oh, it’s that good? Mmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!”